As Tel Aviv prepares to welcome Beyoncé, here’s a review of Israel’s atrocious record towards black people

Ethiopian Israelis took to the streets of Jerusalem on the evening of April 30 to protest police brutality and systemic racism. (Photo: Lior Mizrahi)

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Days after her Super Bowl halftime appearance, Israeli outlet Yedioth Ahronoth has confirmed rumors that Beyoncé Knowles will perform two dates in Tel Aviv, Israel this August, which would be in violation of the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions.

Her recent performance referenced the Black Panthers, the Black Lives Matters movement, and Malcolm X. Beyoncé’s dancers wore Black Panthers style berets and black leather, and were photographed raising their fists in an homage to Tommie Johnson and John Carlos salute at the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City. They were also photographed holding a sign that read “Justice 4 Mario Woods,” who was killed by San Francisco police last December.

The day before, she released a video for “Formation,” her latest song which references police brutality and Hurricane Katrina.

In light of her decision to perform in Israel – which would put her at odds with Malcolm X’s sharp criticism of Israel – I have compiled a review of Israeli policy towards people of African descent.

Afro-Palestinians

Afro-Palestinians descend from pilgrims who came from Chad, Nigeria, Sudan and Senegal for religious reasons as well as to take up arms with Palestinians against British and Zionist colonization. Their population size is unknown, numbering somewhere in the tens of thousands. Trapped behind Israel’s separation walls in occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip, their freedom of movement is subject to Israel’s military occupation and they are unable to enter Israel without rarely-issued permits – certainly not to attend Beyoncé’s performances in Tel Aviv. They have been subject to Israeli colonial violence since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, most recently the 2014 mega-assault on Gaza Israel termed “Operation Protective Edge” which killed more than 2,200 Palestinians including 551 children.

African refugees

The approximately 40,000 African asylum-seekers fleeing political persecution and ethnic cleansing in Eritrea and Sudan currently inside Israel would not be able to attend either. Deemed “infiltrators” by Israeli officials, 3,360 refugees are imprisoned in the Holot detention center – what President Reuven Rivlin called a “concentration camp.”

Last fall, when the high court ordered the Israeli Prison Service to release African refugees who had been imprisoned in Holot for more than twelve months, the Interior Ministry banned them from living or working in Tel Aviv and Eilat, effectively creating sundown towns. Mayor of Arad Nisan Ben Hamo extrajudicially erected police checkpoints at the entrances to the town to keep refugees out – a move widely supported by the townspeople. The mayor of Beit Shean followed suit.

Culture Minister Miri Regev called them “cancer in the body” (a statement 52% of Israelis agreed with) inciting mob violence in impoverished south Tel Aviv, where the Israeli government rounded them up and dumped them in a public park years before.

The Israeli police’s Yoav Unit is tasked with rounding up foreign workers and refugees, sometimes entering apartments and sending them to Saharonim, a prison next to Holot.

Exorbitant ticket prices aside, African refugees who could legally attend would likely would not because of the climate of fear these round ups have produced.

Last October, a mob including uniformed Israeli soldiers and security guards lynched 29-year-old Eritrean refugee Haftom Zarhum and prevented emergency medical services from evacuating him after a Palestinian opened fire in the Be’er Sheva central bus station. To date, only four of the nine participants have been indicted.

In 2014, Eritrean refugee Yordanes Yamena was carrying her baby when an Israeli man stabbed the infant with a pair of scissors. He told police that he attacked baby Kako because “I wanted stop black terror,” and deemed psychologically unfit for trial. The Israeli government issued a summons to Holot to the baby’s father, despite the ruling that married men were exempt. The Israeli government refused to grant the family legal residency, and two years after the stabbing, they received asylum in a European country.

Ethiopians

Israeli citizenship and serving in the military has not prevented Ethiopians from being discriminated against. Brought into Israel beginning in the 1980s, they have suffered heavy discrimination from the moment they arrived.

Ethiopian women have complained that their entry to Israel was conditional based on taking Depo-Provera birth control shots or being refused entry to Israel. Others claim to have been unwittingly administered Depo-Provera. This led to a 50% decline in the birthrate of Ethiopian population, and “a ‘missing generation’ of Ethiopian children.”

In 1996, blood donated by the Ethiopians was destroyed by the Health Ministry over fears that it may be contaminated with HIV. In 2013, Member of Knesset Pnina Tamano-Shata was refused donating blood because of “the special kind of Jewish-Ethiopian blood” by the Magen David Adom, Israel’s version of the Red Cross.

Last summer, a video emerged of two police officers beating Damas Pakada, a uniformed Ethiopian-Israeli soldier, setting off protests decrying official maltreatment. These demonstrations were met with police brutality that had previously been reserved for Palestinians only. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the soldier, assuring him that substantive changes would be made. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein later announced that the police officers who beat Pakada would not be tried on the grounds that Pakada had provoked the beating.

Ethiopian-Israeli Avera Mengistu crossed into Gaza in September, 2014. The Israeli government threatened the family, telling them that he would stay in Gaza for another year if they did not remain silent about it, and placed a gag order that prevented Israeli media from reporting on it. The gag order was not lifted until July, 2015, prompting accusations of racism from the Ethiopian community. Mengistu remains in captivity in the besieged Gaza Strip.

African Hebrews

The African Hebrews, a group of African-Americans who embraced Hebraic traditions and immigrated to Israel in 1969 from the United States, have found similar treatment in Israel. Not officially recognized as Jews, they were not granted permanent residency until 2003.

Last year, nineteen-year-old Toveet Radcliffe became the first African-American to die in the Israeli army when she was found dead on a military base. The army repeatedly altered its story, and the official report delivered to the family last month suggested that the death was a suicide. As journalist David Sheen reported, the explanation of her death appears to be physically impossible, raising suspicions of a cover up. To date, the military has not answered questions the Radcliffe’s family has about her death. Her younger siblings will enlist in the military in the coming years.

Arming despots in Africa

Israel has long been unscrupulous in providing weapons to despotic African regimes, including those accused of genocide. In the 1970s and 80’s, Israel provided arms to apartheid South Africa despite international sanctions. From 2006 to 2010, Israel supplied arms to Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda, the Seychelles, South Africa and Uganda.

Israel continues to export weapons to Burundi, despite that “there has been a ‘genocide alarm’ out on Burundi for several months.”

Propaganda coup

Beyoncé’s upcoming appearances would be a coup for the Israeli government, which brings in international touring acts to improve its image as part of an official strategy.

“One of ours goals is to strengthen the relationship of Israel to the young generation in the diaspora, not just for Jews, but for blacks…” Israeli Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan told the New York Times. Erdan recently introduced Tel Aviv’s chief of police to May Golan, a leader at anti-African demonstrations in Tel Aviv and head of the Jewish City party – a political party that backed the governing Likud party in exchange for political power in its anti-refugee agenda. “I am proud to be a racist,” Golan told a crowd at an anti-African refugee demonstration in 2012.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that African Hebrews are eligible for citizenship upon completion of military service. Thanks to journalist Andrew Esensten for the correction.

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About Dan Cohen

Dan Cohen is an independent journalist and filmmaker based in Palestine. He tweets at @dancohen3000.

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57 Responses

I thought at the time that her referencing of the Black Panthers was more show than substance. She should actually read up on them because the people they were hanging with back in the day weren’t Zionists.

Blah Chick,
What would reading up help with? Mentioning the Black Panthers doesn’t get you totally run out of town nowadays, but even a slight doubt about your Zionist allegiance will, and how! Looks like she just performed the Salute to Empire at the yearly militarism and mass murder exhibition, pardon bowl. Want her to suddenly lose all her record sales and contracts,even for private birthday parties? Its not only Congress that is under occupation.

All sparkle and no substance. I’m guessing that Beyonce is intellectually as well as spiritually challenged, unlike the formidable Lauren Hill. Actually, israel is the perfect place for a performer like Beyonce, right down there with Robbie Williams.

Can’t wait for the trolls to squeal like 12-year-olds at this news (actually, I really can…..)

Naseer is from Kut, he did poems from “Why did you leave the horse alone” with Mahmoud Darwish,

“Why did you leave the horse alone?
— To keep the house company, my son
Houses die when their inhabitants are gone …”

Amiriya bomb shelter was turned into an oven by a smart bomb, went right in the door, shock and awe, they would have been safer standing in the street we were naive about the US military then, the getting of wisdom is a bloody business.

in the 90’s Shamma performed”weird gull” for the great Muzzafar Al-Nawab, when Nawab got up and began extemporizing verses, Arabrap, to Shamma’s music.

Thank you for the excellent piece.
I am however confused by the reference to being “trapped behind Israel’s separation walls in occupied East Jerusalem…”
East Jerusalem is on the Israeli side of the Wall, not on the West Bank side of the Wall. Palestinians in East Jerusalem do not get a permit to enter Israel; they are already “in” Israel.

Hi, no, I am certainly not mixing up East & West Jerusalem. I am surprised this is such a misunderstanding. Although East Jerusalem is by international law in Palestine, Israel built its Wall to the east of East Jerusalem in order to “annex” it. East Jerusalem is on the ISRAELI side of the Wall. If you’re in East Jerusalem, you are in (international law aside) Israel. There is no barrier of any sort between you and (the rest of) Israel.
You go from the West Bank (Ramallah, Abu Dis, Bethlehem, etc) through the Wall’s checkpoints to go to East Jerusalem.

Such a sinister system. The pro-Israeli NFL lets Beyoncé do her Black Panther dance on their mainstream platform probably with the understanding that she is to perform in Israel. The purpose being to wedge division between the Black And Palestinian resistance to oppression movements that are barely starting to gain momentum.

I seem to remember that Israelis popularly elected a black woman as their favorite Big Brother reality show contestant. I seem to remember that last years Miss Israel was a Black Jew.
I seem to remember that Israel went to great lengths to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel not so many years ago.

BTW. The Big Brother winner was so voted because of her personality. Equally attractive contestants with unappealing personalities get booted off the show.

BTW. I just attended a regional gathering of kids at a scholastic competition in Dimona.
Jews, Arabs, Bedouin and Black Israelites. Everybody got along fine. No one paid anyone else any mind. Just kids being kids.

What is truly loathsome is people like you attempting to whitewash the sick society that is Israel. You have no idea why anyone voted for anything yet you latched onto it in a heartbeat. And you have displayed your own personal racist self for all to see on this website. Unabashed and unbridled racism spewed from your fingertips. Loathsome is appropriate for you.

How bizarre to use the soccer at Holot as an argument against Israeli racism. If we leave aside the possible PR angle, we see some young people who wanted to do something nice for the inmates because Israel treats them like shit.

There was one videographer. Israel Social TV. No press. No photographers.

see :24 in the video. jack, i am well aware there are good people in israel because i have been there and i have met them. i know there are awesome activists there and setting up a day to play soccer w/the inmates is a nice thing to do. but my point, when i wrote “had the tv station showed footage of citizens protesting the incarceration of the refugees — have they had any footage of that?” is that the system there is broken, it has always been broken. playing ball w/the inmates won’t change that.

when i stayed in israel our host worked at the russian compound w/refugees. he was the person who told me israel imprisoned them and they were lucky to get out for the day — to work, often w/out pay. like slaves just to get out of the prisons. so i already know there are some very moral and good people there. in fact, we (staff) get multiple emails daily from israaelis. these are alerts, tips from our allies, they are of a like mind as us. so i am under no illusion there are not israelis there just like me fighting this resistance.

none the less, the tv station, should have shown more than this day effort. they should have shown more. ok. this is not something you can use to show israeli society is warm and cozy, because it isn’t. it’s in dire need of reformation. i owe no one an apology. you on the other hand w/your cheapstick Israelis popularly elected a black woman as their favorite Big Brother … and Racist Israeli kids bring soccer tournament to African detainees in Holot (your words not mine) are using these activist as a wall for your activism in support of a racist state. the state is racist and i am sure these activists would agree w/me here, and not you. you, the person who called these activists racist. it’s you who owe them an apology. using their activism to promote your support of this racist state, which bears out in your archives for anyone clicking your name.

the tv station, should have shown the other side. not just the feel good. because we all know the feel good is a rare thing. as are these activists.

“. you, the person who called these activists racist. it’s you who owe them an apology. using their activism ”

I was being sarcastic. Anyone with half a sense of humor would have realized that. I don’t live in, or through, or for Mondoweiss, so sometimes I slip and forget who I’m talking to..

“when i stayed in israel our host worked at the russian compound w/refugees ”

You time your spent in Israel, going from one activist to another, was as insular and useless as coming to Israel on a ‘holy roller’ tour, or a Hollywood swag tour, for that matter. You came here wearing blinders and went home again, firm in your convictions.
Surprise! *cue echo chamber sound*

you were being inflammatory ratcheting up the discourse and insinuating others should apologize? take some responsibility for your own toxic divisive participation here — we all know what you’re up to.

“I don’t sponsor Eritreans. I’ve seen them commit one too many street crimes, thank you. I’m not crazy about Sudanis, since one stole my heirloom jewelry while moving furniture. The Eritreans who helped move me the last time, were honest guys and I tipped them well.
Still, I wish all the Eritreans would leave Israel and not come back. – See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2016/01/african-israeli-society/#comment-820431”

If you actually knew something about the Israel/Palestine, you would know that the Arabs here kept slaves, not the Zionists. Bedouin Arabs kept black african slaves until 1948, when the State of Israel was founded and the slavery trade abolished.

” I seem to remember that Israelis popularly elected a black woman as their favorite Big Brother reality show contestant. I seem to remember that last years Miss Israel was a Black Jew. ”

Yawn….

Doesn’t change the fact that Black Jews in Israel are lowest on the scale– lowest, that is, besides Palestinians in Israel proper (to say nothing of the occupied PWB) and non-Jewish Africans.

Hasbara hack, pls go.

” seem to remember that Israel went to great lengths to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel not so many years ago. ”

And the “niggers” get treated the worst out of the Jewish population, as I said. I seem to remember reading testimony on the part of Ethiopian Jews outlining the problems with racism or ethnic bigotry that they see in Israeli Jewish society.

jack, the title of the article is “Israel Admits Ethiopian Women Were Given Birth Control Shots”. the fact of the health ministry director giving instructions not to do it anymore doesn’t negate the fact that it was done. doesn’t negate the resulting fact of their demographics being halved — which was the intent all along.

“Sticks in your craw” is a diversion. and it bothers no one here the practice was (presumably) stopped once they were outed.

I don’t know if this is such an appropriate stance to take, considering the extremely racist reaction from white America to Bey’s awesome Superbowl performance. White America has no right to talk about racism in Israel, so sit down and let Bey decide what’s best for her people herself.

I think you Richard Head are the one lacking in understanding. It is quite simple so I will explain = they were doing it then they were caught out then they were told”not to” if the women”do not understand”. Ergo they stopped the program because they were caught in the act .There that should do it. Now go and have a nap.

No I don’t wish to take a nap. That very paternal of you.
Do you also have a problem with planned parenthood for women?

“Gabai says to one of her interviewees, an Ethiopian mother of four, “they told you [having children is] forbidden in Israel”? The mother, who said she intends to have more children, replied: “No, why forbidden? There are loads of children. What, why forbidden?”

jack, you’re in denial. the woman who wrote that claimed the forced injections were “alleged” after the health ministry had already admitted injecting the women. she also claimed the charges were “anti semitic”, which is pure stupidity. she also claimed the host was “placing words in the mouths of her interviewees” ignoring the information the letter from Sharona Eliahu-Chai of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel represented several women’s rights and Ethiopian immigrants’ groups. furthermore, that quote you picked up proves nothing. it only proves no one told the ethiopian women having children was forbidden in israel. and why would they be told that while being

intimidated or threatened into taking the injection. “They told us they are inoculations,” said one of the women interviewed. “They told us people who frequently give birth suffer. We took it every three months. We said we didn’t want to.”

the quote proves nothing. the author was engaging in heaps of denial/speculation — an exercise in damage control, nothing more.

“the woman who wrote that claimed the forced injections were “alleged” after the health ministry had already admitted injecting the women ”

As reported in Ha’aretz (in Hebrew, but not English), Prof. Gamzu, the Health Ministry director-general, explicitly said in his directive to gynecologists that he is not confirming any such claims

“Without taking a position or establishing facts about the claims regarding this matter,” the director-general wrote, “I request that all gynecologists working in or with the HMOs not renew Depo-Provera prescriptions for women of Ethiopian origin or other women if for any reason there is concern they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment.”http://www.haaretz.co.il/news/health/1.1939711

That’s a little different from the English Haaretz, with it’s omission.

jack, so what? the health ministry did not deny injecting the women, they simply made an additional statement regarding a request to stop the practice — after admitting to the injections the day before. because there was so much news about it. this is a called damage control.

it took a civil rights group to demand the injections stop serving “several women’s rights and Ethiopian immigrants’ groups.” they claimed the injections were forced and demanded it stop. so your quote, that the health ministry is not confirming the injections were forced, after admitting the women were injected ( published the day before), is irrelevant. why? because had the women been able to refuse them they would obviously not had to seek the assistance of a civil rights group to make the demand!!!

health professionals have known for a long time what this drug is for:

The Journal of Medical Ethics published a report addressing this issue in 1984, in which the authors noted, “Depo-Provera has been damned as an example of Malthusian enthusiasts foisting unsolicited and questionable therapies on other people hence creating unwarranted risks especially for the poor and those least able to understand the benefit/ risk considerations.”

Travel writer Frosty Woolridge reported that in Haiti, aid groups discussed making Depo-Provera injections free to women because “Haitians need to bring their fertility down to European rates.”

In 2008, according to an article in The National, Rachel Mangoli – who ran a day-care center for Ethiopian children in Bnei Brak – was told by a family clinic that it had been told to provide Ethiopian women with the long-term birth control vaccination.

Feminist organization Woman to Woman reported in 2010 that 57 percent of women receiving Depo-Provera in Israel were Ethiopian, even though they made up only 2 percent of the population.

this is totally off topic, you’re spamming again and i am done discussing it with you. unless you have the final results of the so called “investigation” of israel investigating itself (which is like a joke because the israel gov and military are pros at total denial) it’s over for me — the conversation. good bye.

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